President Paul Kagame of Rwanda on Friday met with Lord Ray Collins of Highbury the UK Minister of State for Africa and his delegation at Village Urugwiro where negotiations centered on improving trade cooperation between the two countries.
“Their discussion focused on building on the existing bilateral cooperation between Rwanda and the UK in key areas of trade and investment, environment, education and more,” Rwanda Presidency said shortly after their meeting.
The UK is resetting its relationship with African countries, which are growing rapidly and represent a sizeable proportion of the global economy of the future.
The UK’s leadership in sectors such as financial services, technology and clean energy ensure it can be a reliable and important trade and investment partner for the African countries including Rwanda.
According to the Tony Blair Institute for global change, African GDP has grown more than 20 per cent in the past decade but UK exports to Africa have halved during the same period.
The Institute argues that the UK’s leaders have taken existing relationships with African countries for granted, even as those countries are finding increasing global recognition in multilateral international forums.
“The UK has expressed its own priorities but failed to recognise and meet the priorities of African countries. The thrust of engagement has predominantly been conducted through foreign aid, neglecting the new and emerging economic opportunities and the new geopolitical importance of African countries,” the institute adds.
“An updated UK-Africa trade strategy should cohesively address both British and African priorities to achieve mutual prosperity and cooperation,” the institute suggests.
The institute suggests that economic opportunities in critical minerals, green technology, the digital economy, and the finance and creative sectors.
Trade in strategic areas and where growth has lagged through support for the realisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) single market.
Targeted investment to capitalise on strong UK performance in foreign direct investment (FDI) and diversified investment flows.